Trailer: ‘Good Times’ Makes Animated Return to Screens with Netflix in April

Netflix today dropped the official trailer for Good Times, its animated revamp of the classic 1970s Norman Lear show. The 2D adult comedy will debut on the streamer April 12, described as a “spiritual sequel” to the original live-action series, which made television history as the first sitcom centered on a Black two-parent family.

Logline: In this edgy, irreverent reimagining of the TV classic, a new generation of the Evans family keeps their heads above water in a Chicago housing project.

Dropping the vintage laugh track, the new series will tackle modern issues as they affect the family living in apartment 17C. The voice cast is led by J.B. Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Yvette Nicole Brown (Community) as Reggie and Beverly Evans, the heads of the household; Jay Pharoah (Saturday Night Live) as their teenage artist son, Junior; Marsai Martin (Black-ish) as their activist daughter, Grey; Slink Johnson (Black Jesus) voices the part of their drug-dealing infant son, Dalvin; and Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola (Jury Duty), also a writer on the show, voices the role of Beverly’s enterprising best friend, Lashes by Lisa.

Season 1 will also feature a voice cameo by the late Lear, in his final television performance, and MADtv‘s Michael McDonald playing a cartoonified Elon Musk, showrunner and executive producer Ranada Shepard (Young Love) revealed to Netflix’s TUDUM fan blog. Other guest voices include Pretty Vee, Lil Rey Howery, Godfrey, Ego Nwodim, Gabrielle Dennis and more.

The new Good Times series is produced by Netflix Animation in partnership with Sony Pictures Television Studios. Six Point Two, the union wing of Six Point Harness in Los Angeles (Hair Love, Black-ish animated special), was responsible for pre-production. Executive producers are Lear, Stephen Curry and Seth MacFarlane. The original show was created by Mike Evans and Eric Montes.